Written Answers Monday 8 March 2010

Scottish Executive

Children's Hearings

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children were referred to children’s hearings on offence grounds in 2008-09; in how many of these cases the grounds for referral were not accepted, and in how many the sheriff decided that the grounds were established.

Adam Ingram: This is an operational matter for the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA). The information requested is not held centrally. I have therefore asked the Principal Reporter to provide this information to the member.

Crime

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many charges of assault on a police officer have been reported to procurators fiscal in each of the last five years, broken down by court jurisdiction.

Mr Frank Mulholland QC: The following table shows the number of charges of assault on a police officer under the Police (Scotland) Act 1967, Section 41(1)(a) which have been reported to procurators fiscal.

  CHARGES: POLICE (SCOTLAND) ACT 1967, S:41(1)(a)

  

Procurator Fiscal Office
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09


Aberdeen
284
268
241
241
267


Airdrie
272
266
226
204
278


Alloa
79
72
73
88
73


Arbroath
63
74
62
56
69


Ayr
123
124
164
162
186


Banff
15
11
18
3
10


Campbeltown
22
31
28
23
19


Cupar
34
26
40
21
34


Dingwall
9
15
12
19
27


Dornoch
8
5
5
6
4


Dumbarton
222
284
364
336
322


Dumfries
42
58
85
65
82


Dundee
232
174
241
164
163


Dunfermline
137
169
168
163
145


Dunoon
34
31
32
23
29


Duns
12
4
5
15
5


Edinburgh
459
576
537
446
442


Elgin
60
80
71
82
85


Falkirk
165
175
138
144
140


Forfar
32
22
35
18
39


Fort William
26
34
34
16
44


Glasgow
1,865
1,828
1,893
1,846
2,214


Greenock
145
160
147
141
91


Haddington
28
43
43
36
49


Hamilton
524
461
538
464
491


Inverness
157
104
107
110
128


Jedburgh
25
26
35
25
14


Kilmarnock
234
222
272
268
257


Kirkcaldy
132
143
160
149
197


Kirkcudbright
13
6
14
8
12


Kirkwall
5
6
6
5
13


Lanark
73
72
78
77
51


Lerwick
21
10
11
8
15


Livingston
76
84
115
124
126


Lochmaddy
4
1
-
3
1


Oban
14
25
31
15
23


Paisley
244
308
394
264
275


Peebles
1
6
12
5
4


Perth
210
171
117
118
161


Peterhead
43
68
55
52
67


Portree
3
6
6
-
1


Rothesay
9
2
14
6
29


Selkirk
29
25
13
24
11


Stirling
136
115
115
104
99


Stonehaven
20
5
9
9
6


Stornoway
28
35
22
33
17


Stranraer
45
35
45
27
23


Tain
35
29
37
25
25


Wick
20
23
40
29
14



  Notes

  1. The information for this question has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s Case Management Database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency the database will record details only of the amended charge.

  2. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

Disability Discrimination Act 1995

Jamie Hepburn (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what powers and responsibilities are conferred on it by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

Alex Neil MSP: The Disability Discrimination Act 1995, which is reserved to Westminster, protects disabled people from discrimination in employment, access to goods, facilities and services, the buying, renting, or selling of land or property, education, transport and the exercise of public functions. The Act imposes a general duty on public authorities to promote equality of opportunity between disabled people and non-disabled people.

  The Scottish Government has responsibilities under the Act for ensuring that it’s services and functions do not discriminate against disabled people, and for promoting equality of opportunity between disabled people and non-disabled people.

  The Scottish Ministers have power to make regulations to impose on a relevant Scottish authority or cross-border authority such duties as they consider appropriate for the purpose of ensuring better performance by that authority of the general duty to promote equality of opportunity between disabled people and non-disabled people.

Education

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the revised answer to question S3W-30785 by Michael Russell on 24 February 2010, what reassurance it can give as to the future of the Moray House School of Education campus.

Michael Russell: This is a matter for the University of Edinburgh, not Scottish Ministers.

Education

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the revised answer to question S3W-30785 by Michael Russell on 24 February 2010, whether it has a view on whether the Moray House School of Education campus should be maintained.

Michael Russell: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31940 on 8 March 2010. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx

Epilepsy

Ross Finnie (West of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive Executive how the number of epilepsy specialist nurses compares with the figure recommended by the Joint Epilepsy Council of the UK and Ireland.

Shona Robison: According to the most recent staff survey published by the Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS National Services Scotland, there were 17 Epilepsy Specialist Nurses (ESNs) in post in NHSScotland at 30 September 2009.

  The Joint Epilepsy Council recommends a target of 1 ESN per 100,000 population, which would give a figure of some 50 ESNs for Scotland.

Higher Education Funding

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the £20 million announced for education and lifelong learning during the stage 3 debate on the Budget (Scotland) (No.4) Bill (Official Report c. 23368) will be spent on student support for higher education students.

Michael Russell: Decisions on the deployment of this funding are yet to be taken. We are working with both the Scottish Funding Council and the Student Awards Agency for Scotland to determine how best to allocate this resource   to reflect the balance of demand emerging through the applications process. Nonetheless, we made clear our intention during the Budget statement: we expect the additional resource to provide support to an additional 7,500 higher education students studying in our colleges and universities in the next academic year.

Higher Education Funding

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the £20 million announced for education and lifelong learning during the stage 3 debate on the Budget (Scotland) (No.4) Bill (Official Report c. 23368) will be spent on student support for further education college students.

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Funding Council will announce how the extra £10 million to support higher education students in colleges and universities announced for 2010-11 during the stage 3 debate on the Budget (Scotland) (No.4) Bill (Official Report c. 23368) will be allocated to colleges.

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Funding Council will announce how the extra £10 million to support higher education students in colleges and universities announced for 2010-11 during the stage 3 debate on the Budget (Scotland) (No.4) Bill (Official Report c. 23368) will be allocated to universities.

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many extra college places will be created for 2010-11 as a direct result of the £20 million for education and lifelong learning announced during the stage 3 debate on the Budget (Scotland) (No.4) Bill (Official Report c. 23368).

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many extra university places will be created for 2010-11 as a direct result of the £20 million for education and lifelong learning announced during the stage 3 debate on the Budget (Scotland) (No.4) Bill (Official Report c. 23368).

Michael Russell: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31736 on 08 March 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/apps2/business/pqa/default.aspx

Housing

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many enquiries for assistance that have not yet led to purchase have been received by the Low-cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers scheme in (a) Highland, (b) Western Isles, (c) Orkney, (d) Shetland, (e) Moray and (f) Argyll and Bute.

Alex Neil MSP: The following table shows the number of Open Market Shared Equity Programme (OMSEP) application forms issued, the number of application forms returned, the number of passports issued and the number of sales that have taken place. We do not centrally collate details of purchasers for all LIFT products.

  

 
Number of application forms issued
Number of application forms returned
Number of passports issued
Number of sales up to 31 December 2009


Highland
279
125
125
72


Western Isles
3
3
2
1


Orkney
43
12
10
5


Shetland
27
2
0
0


Moray
51
9
9
0


Argyll & Bute
54
19
13
5



  An update to Housing Statistics for Scotland - AHIP Summary will be published towards the end of May 2010 on the Scottish Government website and will include number of sales in the period January – March 2010.

Kinship Care

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to amend the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 to facilitate parity of levels of kinship carer payments across local authorities without impacting on welfare benefits.

Adam Ingram: There are no plans to amend the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007.

  Local Authorities are best placed to decide how to achieve the commitment to pay kinship carers an allowance in the context of local needs and priorities and taking account of the carer’s overall financial circumstances.

  It is unlikely that Scottish legislation could be used to fully mitigate the impact of benefits legislation, which is reserved to Westminster.

Ministerial Responsibilities

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether (a) the First Minister has or (b) other ministers have (i) entertained lunch guests in the Members’ Restaurant in the Scottish Parliament or (ii) attended a lunch in the Members’ Restaurant in the Scottish Parliament offered as a prize at an auction or raffle held at a party fundraising event and, if so, whether it will list the (A) date of the fundraising event, (B) date of the lunch and (C) ministers involved.

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether (a) the First Minister has or (b) other ministers have (i) entertained dinner guests in the Members’ Restaurant in the Scottish Parliament or (ii) attended a dinner in the Members’ Restaurant in the Scottish Parliament offered as a prize at an auction or raffle held at a party fundraising event and, if so, whether it will list the (A) date of the fundraising event, (B) date and venue of the lunch and (C) ministers involved.

John Swinney: The information requested is already in the public domain. Furthermore, the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner has dismissed all complaints on this matter.

Ministerial Travel

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to information provided in response to the question S3W-30534 by John Swinney on 10 February 2010, for what reason other ministers did not use public transport when carrying out their ministerial duties during the time period specified in the same way as the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change.

John Swinney: Scottish Government Ministers either used the Government Car Service or walked when carrying out ministerial duties.

Rail Transport

Aileen Campbell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what rail passenger numbers have been on the Larkhall-Glasgow line in each four-week period since the service was established in 2005.

Stewart Stevenson: Over the last five years from December 2005 until February 2010 the number of rail passengers on the Larkhall–Glasgow line in each four week period since the service was established are:

  

 
Year
 
 
 
 


Period
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10


1
 
345,096
354,768
364,955
438,166


2
 
328,598
350,935
381,020
365,429


3
 
316,572
335,350
375,270
362,531


4
 
311,978
328,143
360,140
354,711


5
 
335,946
352,522
380,511
390,097


6
 
355,889
356,087
400,939
396,497


7
 
379,723
394,775
401,971
419,840


8
 
373,903
398,062
417,381
421,288


9
 
373,855
394,776
410,926
434,930


10
326,096
325,423
341,332
341,807
340,946


11
347,852
367,470
379,224
401,876
396,171


12
348,336
376,494
395,458
400,318
 


13
319,060
333,464
405,436
440,610
 



  The annual figures are:

  

2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10


1,341,344
4,524,411
4,786,868
5,077,724
4,320,606

Roads

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it issues to Transport Scotland regarding the provision of pedestrian crossings on trunk roads.

Stewart Stevenson: A site being considered for pedestrian crossing facilities is assessed and designed using the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) Volume 8 Section 5 Part 1 (TA 68/96), Local Transport Note 1/95 The Assessment of Pedestrian Crossings and Local Transport Note 2/95 The Design of Pedestrian Crossings . These national documents are published by the Department for Transport and provide accepted standards for assessment, design and construction for use on trunk roads.

Roads

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what account is taken of community views when deciding the siting of pedestrian crossings on trunk roads.

Stewart Stevenson: Investigations into the provision of pedestrian crossings on trunk roads are typically instructed following views expressed by the community. These representations are examined in accordance with assessment framework guidelines in Local Transport Note 1/95 The Assessment of Pedestrian Crossings .

Schools

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish any correspondence between it and faith communities sent since 1 June 2007 regarding encouraging the twinning of denominational and non-denominational schools.

Michael Russell: A copy of a letter dated 24 August 2007, from the Scottish Government to all headteachers in Scotland, including headteachers of denominational schools, inviting applications to the 2007-2008 Anti-Sectarianism in Education Project Fund has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib number 48615). There has been no other such correspondence.

  Within the terms of the Concordat it is for local authorities to pursue their own approaches to tackling anti-sectarianism. Decisions on twinning arrangements will depend on local circumstances and are a matter for local authorities in consultation with their communities and church representatives. Learning and Teaching Scotland are currently revising the anti-sectarianism website, Don’t Give It; Don’t Take It, and examples of best practice in twinning will be shared as part of the revised resource.

Schools

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what is being done to promote fair trade in schools through the curriculum and procurement.

Adam Ingram: Through Curriculum for Excellence there is a strong emphasis on developing responsible, global citizens able to make informed, ethical choices with an understanding of the world and Scotland’s place in it. Fair trade provides an excellent context for learning which motivates young people and supports the achievement of the outcomes of the curriculum on an interdisciplinary basis.

  The Scottish Government supports the Scottish Fair Trade Forum which actively promotes fair trade in schools and works in partnership with the Fairtrade Foundation. There are 587 schools in Scotland which have registered to become Fairtrade Schools through the Fairtrade Foundation and 81 have been awarded Fairtrade status with more expected to be awarded shortly.

  Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) and the 6 Development Education Centres around Scotland work with local authorities and schools to promote global citizenship in schools and fair trade is regularly highlighted in good practice. There are also online resources to support staff and pupils teaching and learning about fair trade. Current LTS resources can be accessed at:

  http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/citizenship/creativeteaching/topicalissues/fairtrade/whatisfairtrade.asp

  The Scottish Government issued guidance in 2005 setting out the ways in which public bodies can incorporate fair trade options into their procurement processes in a manner that is consistent with procurement legislation, by inviting suppliers to include fair trade options in their tenders and by working on a voluntary basis with suppliers once contracts have been awarded.

Schools

Elizabeth Smith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many school hours in primary schools were taught by supply teachers in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

Elizabeth Smith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many school hours in secondary schools were taught by supply teachers in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

Elizabeth Smith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent on supply teachers in primary schools in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

Elizabeth Smith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent on supply teachers in secondary schools in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

Michael Russell: This information is not held centrally.

Scottish Water

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints the Scottish Water Complaints Management Unit has received from business customers, broken down by provider.

Stewart Stevenson: This information is not held centrally and I have asked the Chief Executive of Scottish Water to reply to you.

Teachers

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authorities have used the funds available under the teacher refresh scheme.

Michael Russell: Consultation on the proposed scheme closed on 22 January 2010. Responses from Local Authorities indicated that they would prefer the scheme to operate for 2010-11. The Scheme is currently being finalised and will be issued shortly.

Teachers

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to encourage local authorities to use the funds available under the teacher refresh scheme.

Michael Russell: Consultation on the draft scheme closed on 22 January 2010. The scheme is currently being finalised and will be available to all local authorities very shortly. We shall be encouraging local authorities to use the funds available under the scheme through our regular discussions with COSLA and the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES).

Teachers

Hugh O'Donnell (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many retired teachers working as supply teachers earned more from a combination of pension and supply teaching payments than from pre-retirement in each of the last five years.

Michael Russell: None that we are aware of. A retired teacher who returns to work is subject to the regulations on abatement which are designed to ensure that no-one can receive more from pension and earnings than from their pre-retirement earnings.

Transport

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-27502 by Stewart Stevenson on 25 September 2009, how much money it has allocated to the Fastlink initiative.

Stewart Stevenson: Scottish Ministers have previously indicated they are willing to contribute to an initial phase for Fastlink/Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) which will provide improved connections between the City Centre, the SECC and the new Southern General Hospital. Strathclyde Partnership for Transport and Glasgow City Council are now finalising the outline business case for Fastlink/BRT for submission and more detailed discussion with the Scottish Government in relation to supporting measures to improve public transport in Glasgow and the West of Scotland.